Capsule reviews of movies in theaters now

This animated tale about a caveman family features a strong voice cast and dazzles visually with 3D, but the script doesn't pop off the screen quite so effectively. Prehistoric teen girl Eep (Emma Stone) and her family are convinced by fellow caveman Guy (Ryan Reynolds) that the world is ending and that they must leave their cave and follow him to survive. The themes aren't exactly groundbreaking, and the plot feels too repetitive. The Croods encounter one unexplored terrain after another and respond in predictable ways. Still, the movie, with lush landscapes and vivid details that feel as if they were taken directly from "Avatar," delivers lots of visual oohs and aahs. Rated PG; scary action. 1 hour, 32 minutes. By Christy Lemire, Associated Press.

"Evil Dead"★★

If you've got the guts to tackle another version of "The Evil Dead," you'd better be prepared to spill some, well, guts. And in "Evil Dead," director Fede Alvarez spills plenty. Whether you think it's a good movie will depend largely on your capacity for stomaching gruesome violence. The set-up is similar to the first two "Evil Dead" films, and to any number of other horror films. Five friends head out to a remote cabin in the woods where events will conspire to keep them stranded and where horror is ultimately unleashed. There's nothing here as original or as groundbreaking as director Sam Raimi's original "Evil Dead" films, but it's smarter and better done than a lot of what has come since those movies were made, which is to say there is at least some thought behind the killings. The thoughts belong to Raimi as much or more than to they do to Alvarez, but at least they're there. Rated R; bloody violence, gore, sexual content, language. 1 hour, 31 minutes. By Bill Goodykoontz, Gannett News Service.

"G.I. Joe: Retaliation"★★

For those who didn't see the 2009 original, the G.I. Joes are an elite team of soldiers led by Duke (Channing Tatum), whose team includes tough guy Roadblock (Dwayne Johnson), Jaye (Adrianne Palicki), Flint (D.J. Cotrona), Snake Eyes (Ray Park) and Jinx (Elodie Yung). The Cobra villains, led by Cobra Commander (Luke Bracey), are causing trouble again, and the Joes must thwart a threat to the world instigated by Cobra because that's what heroes do in movies like this, even when everyone thinks they've gone rogue. Director Jon M. Chu runs the movie like it's a video game and doesn't waste our time with things like sensible plot direction or character development. After a while, it becomes quite a slog. Rated PG-13; intense sequences of combat violence and martial arts action, brief sensuality, language. 1 hour, 50 minutes. By Bill Goodykoontz.

"The Host"★★

Based on the novel by Stephenie Meyer, this sci-fi romance takes place at a time when a parasitic alien race has taken over most of the humans on Earth. A small band of humans is fighting back, however, and it includes Melanie (Saoirse Ronan) and young hunks Jared (Max Irons) and Ian (Jake Abel). So here we are again in a Meyer story involving a love triangle, though this one is technically a love rectangle because the parasite named Wanderer that eventually takes over Melanie's body starts falling for Ian. The script asks a lot of Ronan, who for the most part delivers. Probably her greatest accomplishment is to keep the movie from lapsing into abject silliness, which it threatens to do from time to time. She does what she can, but it's a struggle, for her and the rest of us. Rated PG-13; sensuality, violence. 2 hours, 5 minutes. By Bill Goodykoontz.

"Jack the Giant Slayer"★★★

This big-budget, effects-laden, 3D retelling of the Jack and the Beanstalk legend is cheeky without being too obnoxiously cutesy. There aren't a whole lot of surprises here. If you know the story, you know what happens, although "Jack" features several inspired visuals, including an incredibly cool scene in which several beanstalks sprout in an unexpected direction. Nicholas Hoult (Jack) and Eleanor Tomlinson (Isabelle, the princess who catches Jack's eye) are fine together, and they know when to step aside to allow members of the strong supporting cast to shine. The giants are fearsome and fully realized creatures who are nimble warriors rather than the bumbling behemoths you might expect. Their taste for blood definitely puts the fright back into fee-fi-fo-fum. Rated PG-13; fantasy action, violence, frightening images, language. 1 hour, 57 minutes. By Christy Lemire.

"Olympus Has Fallen"★★

Bystanders and tourists, soldiers, cops and Secret Service agents fall by the score in this ho-hum tale about the unthinkable: a terrorist ground assault on Washington, D.C. Gerard Butler manfully mans up as Mike Banning, the lone Secret Service Agent survivor after terrorists take over the White House and seize the president and most of the cabinet. Better thrillers make more of the whole shaky state of command in such calamities, wavering over terrorist demands, stringing out the suspense and playing up the clock ticking down toward whatever nuclear doomsday awaits should our hero fail. Director Antoine Fuqua ("Shooter") is plainly dealing with a script that shortchanges all that. Rated R; violence, language. 1 hour, 53 minutes. By Roger Moore, McClatchy-Tribune News Service.

"Oz the Great and Powerful"★★★

Metro Detroit native Sam Raimi, the director who cut his teeth on the "Evil Dead" horror franchise and later brought Spider-Man to life, is the right guy to make the Merry Olde Land of Oz pop off the screen. This prequel to the beloved "Wizard of Oz" is the most gorgeous use of 3D since 2010's "Alice in Wonderland." However, the cast, plainly packed with second or third choices, lets him down. Really, is there anything in James Franco's past that suggests a fast-talking, womanizing con man? And Oz's three witches - played by Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz and Michelle Williams - are Bland, Blander and Blond Bland. Still, Raimi produces some frights with apes that fly in the night. He mostly gives us an "Oz" that's worthy of our time. Rated PG; action, scary images, mild language. 2 hours, 10 minutes. By Roger Moore.

"The Sapphires"★★★

This up-from-struggle story of a group of Outback aboriginal girls in the late '60s who become a pop group follows the predictable form of movies like these, from "Dreamgirls" to "The Commitments," but there's such a sense of joy in the performances that it's hard not to be won over. Based very loosely on a true story, the film pulses with a heartfelt energy, largely because of actress Deborah Mailman (who may finally get her due after years of solid work in Australia), the vocal strength of costar Jessica Mauboy and the lanky charm of Chris O'Dowd, who plays the group's manager and just may have made himself a star with this role. Director Wayne Blair keeps things moving so quickly you don't have time to quibble that some of the songs covered in the film - "I'll Take You There," for instance - weren't yet around in 1968, the year in which "The Sapphires" is set. Rated PG-13; sexuality, war violence, language, mature themes. 1 hour, 43 minutes. By Cary Darling, Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

"Spring Breakers"★★★

Four young college women (two of them played by formerly squeaky-clean Disney Channel stars Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens) pull off a coked-up diner robbery on their way to Florida for spring break. They're quickly arrested and then quickly bailed out of jail by a lonely wanna-be gangster rapper (James Franco in a movie-stealing performance), who hopes to lure them into his world of crime. Writer-director Harmony Korine sets out here to satirize those tacky "Girls Gone Wild" videos while simultaneously reveling in them, and he somehow succeeds. A scene that finds the young banditas bouncing in bikinis and girly-pink ski masks while hoisting rifles in the air and preparing to go on a crime spree captures the film's essence. It's very sad but also kind of sexy. Rated R; sexual content, language, nudity, drug use, violence. 1 hour, 32 minutes. By Christy Lemire.